Royal blooded, p.30
Royal Blooded, page 30
part #1 of Royal Blooded Series
“You sure this is the right place?” Asked Eli, looking across the street.
“Yeah, that’s what the GPS says. Los Angeles Mission, on the corner of 5th and Wall. That’s 5th over there, and I think that’s Wall Street, so this must be it.” Aria replied, pointing to the intersection.
Turning back to the group, Eli nodded. “So how do you want to play this?”
“I’ll go in.” Naz volunteered.
She was back in her human form, her green skin replaced by ebony. Her jeans looked like they had been plastered onto her, and Eli’s eyes rested on the curve of her body. Since their kiss, he had begun to appreciate how sexy she was more and more – both in her human form and her orc form.
“Why you?” Eli asked.
“Aria and Lilly are too pretty to go in. You’ll attract too much unwanted attention, even in a group.” Naz responded.
He shook his head. “You’re not so bad yourself. You’re going to run into the same issue.”
Naz winked in reply. “Thanks stud. But I can also defend myself without using magic. I’m not sure Aria or Lilly can do that.”
As if to prove her point, she flexed her arm muscles slightly. “Okay.” Eli relented. “But why don’t I go in then?”
“If a man walks in and is asking about someone, they’ll assume you’re after him for money or whatever. If a woman does it, they’ll assume I’m his worried girlfriend. They’re much more likely to give information to me than you.”
Aria nodded. “Damn Naz. I’m impressed. That’s very clever.”
Naz shrugged in reply. “Not my first covert mission princess.”
“Fine. I just don’t like the idea of you going in there alone.” Eli relented. “But I see your point. When you’re back, I want to hear about some of these covert missions.”
“Over dinner?” She said hopefully.
“Deal.” He replied. “Now get going.”
She leaned in and kissed Eli on the cheek before walking to the crosswalk. The three of them watched her as she crossed the street, and made her way into the building. Eli began to pace back and forth as soon as she was in, worried about her.
“You realize what you just did right?” Aria asked.
“No, what?”
“You’re going on a date with her. You’re going to end up in bed together after.”
Eli paused for a moment. “Maybe. Is that an issue?”
“Not at all. The girls already agreed she’d be a good addition to our harem. We have a group chat and we pre-emptively invited Naz as well.”
Eli shook his head, the mission momentarily forgotten. “Wait, what? Can I see?”
“No. It’s just for us girls. We don’t want you snooping in there, so we can talk freely about you.”
“Fine.” Eli said. “Can I at least ask who’s in it?”
“Only girls who are in the harem…or very likely to be. We vet them first and make sure they’re up to our standards before we let them in. That means me, Naz, Freya, Zee, and Lilly.” She said, gesturing to her.
Eli was at a loss for words. He hadn’t known managing a potential harem of women would be so complicated, balancing everyone’s desires and needs. Finally, he turned to Lilly. “Thank you for being patient. I promise you I’ll take you on a real date as soon as all of this settles down.”
“You’re welcome. We care about you Eli. We’re just trying to help.”
Eli nodded, unable to find the words he needed to describe how grateful he was for their support. Even though his relationship with Aria had proceeded the furthest, he had come to care about each of the women in his life in ways he hadn’t thought possible only a few months ago. More and more, the idea of loving multiple women at once seemed like a possibility to him.
His mind snapped back to the present as he looked at the sign for the homeless shelter across the street. He tapped Aria on the shoulder, then pointed towards a sign. “Aria, are you seeing this?”
“Seeing what?”
“Look at the sign across the street.”
“It says ‘Los Angeles Mission’. So what?”
“Now read just below it.”
Aria squinted slightly, reading out loud. “Proudly supported by the following corporate sponsors…” She read each one of them out before stopping suddenly, her eyes going wide. “Shit. Innovacorp is on this list!”
Lilly shook her head. “Are you sure it’s the same company?”
“Humans attack Irandell, and the only clue just happens to point towards the same company that’s trying to assassinate Aria? Way too specific to be a coincidence.”
Aria was busily searching on her phone. “Eli’s right. Innovacorp has a satellite office here in LA. It’s the same company as the one in Australia.”
“We have to get Naz out of there. She might be in a lot more danger than she realizes.”
Eli started walking towards the building but Lilly grabbed his arm, hauling him back. “Eli, stop! That’s a terrible idea.”
“What? Why?”
“They know what you look like. They might not know what she looks like. You go in there, you’ll probably blow her cover and put her in even more danger.” Lilly said, shaking her head. “She’s a big girl – she can handle herself. Let her do this.”
Eli looked back at Aria, who nodded. Taking a deep breath, he walked back to the shade of the trees. “I don’t like this, but I trust your judgement. Can we at least text her or call her to let her know she’s in danger?”
“I’ll do it.” Aria said, already typing the message on her phone.
The next thirty minutes seemed to stretch by for hours. If Eli was pacing nervously before, he was wearing a path into the ground now. When Naz finally emerged from the building they all breathed an audible sigh of relief. She casually walked across the street and back to the park where they were waiting. Eli met her halfway, wrapping her in an embrace and kissing her deeply.
“Wow. I wasn’t gone that long, was I?” Naz said, grinning.
Interlacing his fingers with hers, he walked back to Lilly and Aria hand-in-hand with her. “No, but we were a bit worried.”
“Why?”
“Did you check your phone?” Aria said, finally in earshot of the conversation.
“Oh.” Naz said, pulling out her phone.
She quickly read through her missed texts, then her head whipped around to look at the corporate sponsor sign. “Shit.”
“Yeah, that’s what we thought too.” Eli said. “Come on, let’s get back to the car. I don’t want to hang around here. If they sponsored this place, they might have eyes around it.”
The four of them piled into their rented late-model SUV. Eli hopped in the drivers seat, turning up the air conditioning as soon as they got in. Lilly sat beside him, with Aria and Naz in the back. They were silent until he turned onto the freeway, heading back to the airport.
“Alright.” He said finally, looking around for anyone who might be following them. “I think we’re in the clear. Naz, tell us what you found.”
“Our ‘friend’ in the Irandell dungeon has a name. James Rutherford. Apparently he’s one of the well-behaved ones: doesn’t do drugs, doesn’t get into fights, keeps to himself. They felt badly for him – he didn’t even really have any friends. He’s just a regular guy who fell behind on mortgage payments and didn’t have anyone else he could stay with. He’s been staying here for about the last six months but he stopped showing up about a week ago.”
“Are they sure it was him?” Eli asked.
“One hundred percent. They recognized him from the picture I took. The manager even gave me this big rant about how their homeless shelter was getting emptier and emptier over the last few months, but James was one of the ones who was still showing up. That’s why they were so sure about who he was.”
Aria furrowed her brow. “That’s weird. It’s not like people are suddenly getting jobs and houses, and they’re not showing up dead in large numbers– either one of those things would be a big story.”
Naz shrugged in reply. “He didn’t know. He said it’s not that uncommon for people to stop showing up suddenly – lots of homeless people deal with addiction issues, or get sucked into a life of crime. But for a big group of them to all disappear, all around the same time…that’s not something that happens everyday.”
Eli shook his head. “We’re getting distracted. Let’s assume that they’re right, and the guy currently in Irandell’s dungeon is James Rutherford. How does someone go from being a generally well-behaved but otherwise unremarkable homeless guy in LA to being part of a team assaulting an elven castle in one week?”
The car went silent. Finally, Lilly spoke up. “Lets go back to Irandell and ask him.”
_____________
The four of them sat in the library, already tired. The drive back to the airport had taken hours, and by the time they came through the portal the sun was already setting in Irandell. They wanted to take another run at questioning James, but apparently he had been locked away in a separate, solitary cell while awaiting further interrogations. It would take time to transfer him, and their collectively rumbling stomachs had insisted that they take a break to eat something.
The Hightower family staff had been kind enough to serve them their meal in the library. They ate in silence, shovelling in a fish and rice dish as fast as their stomachs could handle it. Eli pulled out his phone and began checking the news again mindlessly, looking to see if there were any new stories about the container ship sinking. Instead, today’s headlines were dominated by the fact that the curator of the Louvre museum in Paris had tried to cover up a burglary. Apparently the crown of Louis XV had been stolen and replaced with a fake over two months ago, but the press was only learning about it now.
Talaedra opened the door to the library, looking at the four of them. “Really now, this is a library not a dining hall.” She said, disapprovingly.
“We’re only here for a few minutes!” Eli said between bites. “We’re just eating while they transfer the prisoner, then we’re going to try to question him again.”
“Nasty business, that. Hopefully you’ve gathered some information that can convince him to loosen his tongue?” She said.
“Yes.” He tried to change the topic to distract from her disapproving state. “I was just reading the headlines as we ate. Did you ever meet Louis XV?”
“No.” She responded. “He ruled France in the 1700s. I was in England in the 1800s. I met Napoleon though, who ruled after him. Why?”
“Someone stole his crown from the Louvre.”
“Really now? Let me take a look.”
Eli handed her his phone, the article still open. She scrolled several times before letting out a yelp while dropping the phone to the ground. The sound made them all flinch and they stared at her, surprised.
“Are you okay?” Aria asked finally.
“No. It can’t be right.” Talaedra said, seemingly not having heard the question.
She jogged over to the bookshelf, pulling out a heavy book. Eli put down his food and picked up his phone before looking at Aria, concerned. She shrugged and stood as well, and the two of them walked to join Talaedra as she put the book down on a desk with a ‘thud’ before frantically starting to flip through it.
“Slow down. What’s going on?” Aria asked.
“The crown. I looked into it before. I knew they were looking for it, but I didn’t think they’d actually find it - much less that it would be in such a high-profile place!” Talaedra responded nonsensically.
“You’re not making any sense.” Lilly said as her and Naz stood up to join them. “Who is looking for the crown of Louis XV?”
“Aha!” She said, finally finding the page she was looking for. “Give me your phone.”
Eli handed the phone to her. It was still open to the article, with a picture of the crown itself on display. Talaedra laid the phone on top of the open book next to a picture of a crown on one of the pages. The similarities were striking – it looked exactly the same, down to the small details and jewels.
“Okay, you’re going to have to fill us in Talaedra. Why does the library have a book with a picture of a dead French king’s crown?” Eli said.
Just then, Faelor burst into the room. He was about to speak when Talaedra cut him off. “Good, you’re here. You should hear this too.”
Taking a deep breath, she explained. “Several months ago a number of elven extremists claimed they had found a magical artifact with powerful enchantments. They were apprehended, and we learned that the magical artifact they were after was a crown.”
“I remember that.” Eli said. “They were found dead afterwards, weren’t they?”
“Yes.” Faelor responded. “We still haven’t found who killed them.”
Talaedra continued. “Yes, well. Regardless, King Faelor asked that I do some research into the artifact to see if it would turn up any clues which would help with the investigation. The only crown that fit their description is in this book. Given that this is a book of elven legends, we assumed they were delusional. It appears we may have been wrong.”
“Okay, so the legendary elven crown is real and was owned by Louis XV. Why is that such a big deal?” Eli asked.
“This is an incredibly powerful artifact.” Talaedra responded.
“What kind of power are we talking about here? What kind of powers does the crown give the wearer?” Naz asked.
“It gives them power over human minds.”
An uncomfortable silence settled over the group as they took in that information. They looked incredulously at Talaedra, then at each other. Finally, Eli spoke up. “To be clear, when you say ‘power over human minds’, what exactly are you talking about?”
“Mind control.” Talaedra said. “The ability to make humans do things.”
The idea of mind control was a monstrous one to Eli. To have his free will taken away seemed like the worst fate imaginable.
“So let me make sure I get this straight.” Naz said. “The legendary elven crown which lets the user mind control humans is not only real, but was recently stolen. That event just happened to coincide with the attack by humans on Coldwater, and the first attack on Irandell.”
“Shit.” Eli said. “You think that someone stole the crown and is now using mind-controlled humans as shock troops?”
“It fits the facts.” Talaedra responded.
“It gets worse.” Aria added, turning to Faelor. “While we were investigating the homeless shelter in LA, we found a connection to Innovacorp. They sponsor the shelter.”
“Fuck.” Eli interjected with a groan. “The manager of the shelter said that the number of homeless people is down significantly. They’re not suddenly buying houses or turning up dead either. They’re just disappearing. What if they’re mind controlling homeless people?”
Lilly agreed. “That’d be a pretty clever way to raise an army. Individual homeless people are difficult for authorities to keep track of, so you could recruit a lot of them before anyone would really notice. And if they’re mind controlled, you could make them into the perfect soldiers – fanatical, disciplined, and merciless.”
Faelor finally interjected. “This is all a fine theory, but do you have any evidence to support any of it? Everything you have right now is circumstantial.”
“What if we could find a way to break the mind control on our prisoner? I bet he’d be able to tell us for certain.” Lilly said.
Faelor shook his head. “That’s what I was going to tell you when I came in. The prisoner was found dead a few moments ago. He was left unattended by the guards for almost an hour by accident. We’re still trying to sort out what happened, but it looks like he used his chains to cut into his wrists until they bled. By the time the guards found him he’d lost too much blood.”
The room went silent again. Eli turned to Faelor. “I don’t mean to make an accusation, but… this isn’t the first time a lead in your investigation has turned up dead.”
Faelor nodded grimly. “I suspect the same thing. There is an insider or group of insiders who are actively working against us. Based on what you’re telling me, they’re behind both the attempted assassination and the human attacks. They might also have a magic mind-controlling crown and an army of humans behind them.”
“This is a massive problem. We need to figure out who they are now. I think it’s time we paid Innovacorp a visit. That’s the most likely place to have a record of who is behind this - or at least they’ll be able to point us to other leads.” Aria said.
“With a spy in our ranks?” Faelor said. “How are we supposed to move against them without tipping them off?”
“We need an outsider.” Naz responded. “Someone who we know was outside of the castle during the human attacks and when the prisoner was killed. And if they’re going to help us get into Innovacorp, they should probably have some experience getting into places they’re not supposed to. That’s not exactly any of our area of expertise.”
They went silent one final time. Slowly, Lilly turned to look at Eli and grinned. “What’s on your mind Lilly?” He asked.
“Zee.” She said simply.
Chapter 28
“Why is it that you only ever call when you need something from me?” Zee asked teasingly.
“I tried, remember? You were on some mysterious mission.” Eli shot back.
“Yes, true. But I’ve been back for a month now.”
“And during that time I’ve had my own problems I’ve been taking care of.” Eli responded.
Zee nodded. “Yes. I heard about everything that happened at Coldwater. I’m glad you’re okay. But after this long, a girl has to ask – are you still interested?”
Eli glanced over at her. She was blushing slightly, keeping her eyes on the road the whole time. His eyes travelled up and down her body – she was wearing a fitted blue business suit, pencil skirt, and white blouse which contrasted perfectly against her olive skin. Her bust pushed her blouse outwards and her black hair was pinned up, letting Eli see her light pink bra peeking out underneath the three buttons that she had popped open.
